Tip: Strong Obliques, Strong Body

All rotational and anti-rotational movements fall under the transverse plane. One common transverse movement is the standard cable twist (shown below), but people screw it up.

Two of the most common cable twist mistakes:

1. Pulling with the arms.

The cable twist is an oblique-dominant exercise focusing on trunk rotation, but lifters tend to pull with their arms as opposed to rotating using their core. The Swiss ball variation takes care of this mistake.

Even if you're doing a standard cable twist without the Swiss ball, grab the handle with your outside hand first. This encourages rotating with the core as opposed to pushing with the arms.

2. Rotating the lumbar spine.

Your feet shouldn't be "stuck in the mud" during cable twists. If your inside foot isn't pivoting in correlation with your trunk, you're turning a great core exercise into a spine-destroyer. Not good. Pivot your inside foot so your hip rotates in unison with your torso to keep the stress off your spine and the engagement in the obliques.

1. Set the cable pulley to just under shoulder height.
2. Hold a Swiss ball and grab the cable handle with your outside arm.
3. Hug the ball with your outside arm just slightly below the inside arm. This stops the cable from crawling up the ball and smacking you in the face.
4. Rotate with your head following the ball and your inside foot pivoting inward.
5. Return to your starting position with a 2-3 second eccentric or negative.
6. Do 8-12 reps for 3-4 sets each side.